Our overall purpose is to develop a computer interview system that can be used to assess change and outcome in psychotherapy research. The utility of the interview system is to be demonstrated and tested in a controlled study of time-limited versus time-unlimited psychotherapy for depression. The interview system consists of a series of interlocking interviews taken by patients and therapists at a computer terminal to: screen for psychiatric and social adjustment history and current symptoms; establish diagnosis; make normative comparisons necessary for sampling; define target problems, treatment goals; and appropriate specific follow-up criteria; collect patient and therapist reports of treatment interventions; and assess patient change and outcome. Programs to enter data from paper and pencil forms, where more practical, and programs for search and display of result are available. This system draws on computer interview procedures already developed in our previous research and provides for individualized target symptoms and outcome criteria tailor-made to each case, but registered in a standard format for comparison across groups. Preliminary studies of collected material have guided the design of the system. This interview system is being used in a controlled study of two approaches to the psychotherapy of depression in a homogeneous sample of clinic outpatients. Treatments compared are time-limited, focused psychotherapy and traditional open-ended psychotherapy (with assessments of change made at the same time points in both groups). Controls will include a waiting list (treatment on demand) group. Data analyses will consider the relative effectiveness of the time-limited and traditional methods, the specific content of patient-problem definitions and treatment goals, and the characteristics and course of patient change in the treatment and control groups. BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCE: Greist, J.H., Klein, M.H., Erdman, H.P.: Routine On Line Psychiatric Diagnosis By Computer. American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 133, No. 12, p. 1405-1408, 1976.